Metallic seal



(No Model.) 7 A. J. PHELPS.

METALLIC SEAL. No. 397,384. Patented Feb. 5, 1889.

N. PETERS. Pholmmhog iphw, Withington, D C,

, UNITE STATES PATENT FFICF.

ANDREIV .I. PHELPS, OF

SYRAFUSE, NEIV YORK.

METALLIC SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,384, dated February 5, 1889.

Application filed June 11, 1888. Serial No. 276,714. (No model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW J. PHELPS, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have in vented new and useful Improvements in Metallic Seals, of which the following, taken in eonnectim'i with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the class of seals which are employed for inrotecting the tied ends of a wire or metallic hoop or analogous binder encompassing a box or package.

My present intention is a specific improvement over the seals shown in my prior patents, No. 358,880, of March 9, 1987, and No. 368,780, of August 23, 1897, and is designed to afford greater security against malicious tampering with the box or package to which the seal is applied; and it consists, essentially, of a softmetal case having opposite open ends and an apertn re in its top, the binder passin through the case at the open ends thereof, and a separate soft-metal plate inserted into the case endwise thereof and over the hinder, and forming with the top of the case two thicknesses of soft metal over the said binder, as hereinafter more fully d eseribed, and specifically set forth in the claim.

In the annexed drawings, Figures 1, 2, and 3 are top plan views of seals embodying my improvements and showing the seals in their condition before the impression of the stamp is applied thereto. Figs. :4, 5, and U are top plan views of the same seals, showing them in their condition after the stamp has been impressed thereon. Figs. '7, 8, and 9 are transverse sections on lines a- :r in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Figs. 10, 11, and 12 are transverse sections on lines y 3 in Figs. 4, 5, and (i. Fig. 13 is a side view of a modification of my improved seal. Fig. 1% is a transverse section on line 2 z in Fig. 13, and Fig. 15 is a detached plan view of the component parts of said modification.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A represents the soft-1netal case, which may be of any suitable form, having diam etricallyopposite open ends and adapted to receive in" side of it the ends of the binder b, which. may be either wire or hoop-iron encompassing the box or package. The bottom portion of said case is provided with an aperture through which to drive into the box either a nail, a, or screw or staple or other suitable fastener to which to tie or otherwise secure the ends of the binder. The top portion of the case is provided in its center with an aperture, 0, to permit the aforesaid. fastener to be inserted and driven into the box, as aforesaid.

(Z is a separate soft-n'letal plate, which is adapted to slide endwise into the case over the fastener a and binder I), attached thereto, and when introduced said plate extends across the interior of the ease and closes the top aperture, c.

For simplicity of ("onstruetion, I prefer to form the aforesaid case of a soft-metal tube, having either a longitmlinal slot extending through. its top portion, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5 of the drawings, or a perforation in the center of the top portion, as represented in Figs. and 6 of the drawings, said slotor perforation constituting the aperture 0, hereinbefore referred to. In either of the described constructions the plate d lies with its main portion completely under the top portion of the case and closes the aperture and covers the fastener and binder connected thereto, and when the stamp is impressed on the seal two thicknesses of soft metal lie over at least a portion. of the binder, and the edges of the aperture 0 of the case A become so impressed and united with the underlying plate cl as to render it nearly impossible to separate said parts and reunite them without defacing or destroying the impression of the stamp, (represented by dotted circles 6,) which latter is designed to bear the name of the shipper or the consignor of the box or package.

In the form of the seal represented in Figs. 13, 1t, and 15 of the drawings the case A has its bottom and top portions formed with 1011- gitudinal extensions A and A at one end, and in connection therewith I employ a similar case, (1, having its bottom and top portions formed at one end with extensions d and d. This latter case is placed inversely in relation to the case A, and the extension d is inserted into the latter case and over the fastener and binder connected thereto, while the other extension, 0, slides over the top of the case A and closes the central aperture thereof.

Having described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

ismy name, in the presence of two witnesses, at The improved seal consisting of asoft-motal I Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the case having opposite open ends and an aper- State of New York, this 0th day of June, 1888.

5 ture in its top, the binder passing through the case at the open ends thereof, and a sepal ANDREWV J. PHELPS. [L. s.]

rate soft-metal plate inserted into the case over the binder and forming with the top of \Vitnesses:

the case two thicknesses of metal over the O. L. BENDIXON,

1o binder, substantially as described and shown. MARK \V. DEWEY.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed 

